>> chris: i'm chris wallace. the romney ryan ticket turns to the debates to try to narrow the gap against president obama. with 37 days until the election, we go on the campaign trail with paul ryan. >> this is a high stakes election. we will give the country a very clear choice. >> chris: and we sit down for an exclusive interview in which we discuss the economy, the new focus on national security and growing criticism of the romney campaign. paul ryan only on "fox news sunday." then, we will preview wednesday's first obama/romney debate and ask our sunday panel what each candidate needs to do to win the first face-off.

and our power player of the week has spent almost half his life telling the inside story of how a president rose and fell from power. all right now on "fox news sunday." and hello again from fox news in washington. with just five weeks until election day and new polls showing president obama leading in key swing states, the presidential debates may be mitt romney's last best chance to turn this race around. and so we wanted to find out what the romney/ryan plan is when they face off against obama and biden. we caught up with running mate paul ryan saturday in new hampshire. before we sat down for an exclusive interview, we spoke briefly as he was about to it take the stage for a campaign town hall. >> what do you think just before you go out on stage each time? >> president obama is taking us in the wrong direction. mitt romney and i are offering them a different direction and i'm excited at the opportunity

to give people the chance to pick that choice. that is what gets me excited about this. >> thank you so much for coming out, everybody. >> chris: congressman, welcome back to "fox news sunday." >> great to be back with you, chris. welcome to new hampshire. >> chris: thank you. what does governor romney need to do wednesday night in the first debate? >> he needs to give the american people the choice that we are offering. that is what we are doing. we owe the country a cheer choice of a different future. we can either have a dynamic growing economy that produces opportunity or we can have a stagnant economy that fosters dependency. stick with the failed policies of the last four years for the next four years or get a brighter future. stagnation versus growth. dependency versus opportunity and upper mobility. that is the classic choice and clear difference that we are offering and what we hope people get out of this this debate is that choice. >> chris: it is interesting because for the last six months

the romney campaign said this is a referendum on barack obama's record and now you are saying it is a choice. >> it is not a change in strategy. a phase of the campaign we now entered into. i think it is important. the president is trying to paper over his problems and has been trying to mislead and distort the record. it is a failed record. we think it was very important to point that out. look at unemployment. look at our poverty rates and the 23 million people struggling for work. now, at this phase of the campaign we think it is critical that people understand it doesn't have to be this way. are we can get our country back on track. mitt romney is offering the leadership and policies and principles that enable us to do that. >> chris: it is clear that you two you and romney are trailing in the polls especially in the swing states. a growing number of republicans that say romney needs a clear are victory on wednesday or else the donor support will start to dry up and so will the grass roots support. >> first of all, the polls are

close. this is going be a close race. second of all i don't think. >> chris: but you are trailing. >> we are running against an incumbent president with incredible resources. more importantly i don't think one event is going to make or break this campaign. president obama is a very gifted speaker. the man has been on the national stage for many years. he is an experienced debater. he has done these kinds of debates before. this is mitt's first time on this kind of a stage. >> chris: there were 23 debates during the primarys. >> people are going to see who is mitt romney and what kind of president is he going to be and what are the choices i have. that is what matters in this particular debate and all of the debates which is i know what president obama has done and all of the empty promises and broken promises and know about the ugly stagnant economy. what is mitt romney and paul ryan offering to get us back on track? and i think that is what we will get out of wednesday and if we get that out of wednesday then the country understands the choice they have to make. >> chris: i understand that governor romney plans to make a

major foreign policy speech in the next few days. do the two of you think that the president has engaged in a coverup in his and the administration's escaped explanation of what happened at the u.s. consulate in benghazi? >> i will let others decide that. there are republicans and democrats in congress calling for an investigation as we need to have. response was slow. confused. inconsistent. they first said it was a youtube video and spontaneous mob. we now know it was a planned terrorist are attack. if this was one tragic incident that would be a tragedy in and of itself. the problem it is part of a bigger picture of the fact that the obama foreign policy is literally unraveling before our eyes on the tv screens. mitt romney is going to lay out a different vision for foreign policy. one that is a policy of american strength versus what i would articulate or say the president's policy is one of weakness. we are seeing the ugli fruits of the obama foreign policy

unravel around the world on our tv screens. syria 20,000 dead people. iran closer to a nuclear weapon. the middle east peace process is in shamables and we he have our flags being burned allnd t. russia is thwarting us at every stage in the process. this is a weak foreign policy with terrible results which makes us less safe. >> chris: let me pick up on a couple of those. syria, governor romney would not put u.s. troops on the ground in syria. iran, governor romney's red line seems to be about where barack obama's is. there is no pi big difference. >> sure there is. let's go to iran. the difference is credibility. the president's iran policy lacks credibility. the ayatallah's in iran have to make a decision to stop pursuing a nuclear weapon and pursue a peaceful resolution and they are not doing that. i would argue because the president doesn't have

credibility. he was silent for too long on the green revolution. when puts the military option on the table he does it in a way that doesn't have credibility because his administration sends out mixed signals such as they are more worried about an israeli attack than iran getting a nuclear weapon. >> chris: benjamin netanyahu the israeli prime minister gave dramatic speech at the u.n. he had a drawing and a red line and said if iran amasses that amount of enriched uranium which would be number to make a bomb we have to strike. would you and governor romney put the redline at the same place that netanyahu did. >> what we have said is a nuclear weapons capability is what we have to stop. we have to speak with credibility. that means a romney/ryan administration one of credibility where we don't

establish daylight between our allies, especially israel. when we say what we are going to do it is believed. that is the issue here. the ayatollahs by virtue of the conduct don't believe the president. >> chris: but your red line is not any different than the president. >> the problem is it is built upon a million of noncredible actions. i have been in congress for a number of years and we he have been fighting for tough crippling sanctions on iran. the administration resisted us. tim geithner tried to stop us from doin doing this until overwhelming support when the administration came onboard. when we send the signals overseas the ayatollahs don't think we are that serious. they are four years closer to a nuclear weapon. when you hesitate and don't speak with clarity and don't project your confidence in american values it projects

weakness and equivocation. it shows we are weakening our resolve and weakening our military and when you project weakness bad things happen and look what is going on around the world. >> wednesday's debate will focus on domestic policy, especially the economy. looking back over the historical record the question is why aren't you guys running away with this race? let me put up statistics. unemployment 8.1%. no president has won reelection with unemployment that high since fdr in 1940. gdp growth. no president has won reelection with gdp growth that low he since they started measuring growth in 1930. question, given all of that, why are you and romney losing at this point? >> we are going to win this race. give than we will win this race. >> chris: but you are not at this point. you are losing. >> we can debate polls. the president is offering four

more years of the same and has been good at distorting the issue and disguising the truth and very good at distracting people. he can't run on hope and change any more. he is run aring on division and distraction and distortion to try to win an election by default. mitt romney and i will give the people a clear choice. here are the progrowth policies to get the economy and increase more take home pay for the middle class. people out of poverty into the middle class to get economic opportunity and job security. we will show the country here is what you need to do to tackle these problems. >> chris: congressman, mitt romney has been campaigning for two years and only five weeks left in the campaign. forgive me but i want to look at a couple of polls here. 42% of americans now think the economy will get better in the next year. 18% think it will get worse and 32% say it will stay the same and in a "new york times" poll when asked who can handle the economy better, obama now leads

romney by 6 points in ohio and 5 in florida. with five weeks left, with months, years of campaigning isn't romneyus, southbound in danger of losing the rationale for the campaign that he is the better steward of the economy? >> people focus near the end. the president has done a good job of trying to distort the record. higher take home pay for middle class. progrowth economic policies. that right there creates about 7 million jobs. in the final analysis, people are going to realize all the president is offering is more of the same but with another round of stimulus and higher tax returns rates on job creators. we are offering specific reforms. strengthen social security. grow jobs. have an energy policy that unleashes american energy and has energy independence. >> chris: the fact that the message hasn't gotten through as effectively as it could so far is, that your fault, the

romney campaign fault report voters' fault? >> it is not the voters' fault. i think the president has done an effective job of trying to confuse the issue and distract people. i don't think that is going to work. >> chris: do you take any responsibility? >> we going to pros is cute the campaign in the way that we always planned which is we will tiv this country a very clear choice. do you want stagnation and dependency or growth and opportunity? the problem is not everybody knows our five point plan for a stronger middle class. not everybody knows that we have the solutions that will get people better job security. >> chris: let's talk specifics. >> no matter how many times they tell you they will start talking specifics really soon they don't do it and the reason is because the math doesn't work. >> chris: you are the master of the budget. briefly let's go through the plan. the obama camp says independent

groups say if you cut the tax rates for everybody 20% it costs $5 trillion over ten years. true? >> not in the least bit true. look, this just goes to show if you torture statistics enough they will confess to what you want them to confess to. that study has been discredited. it wasn't even a measure of mitt romney's policy. here is what we are saying? >> chris: how much would it cost? >> it is revenue neutral. >> chris: we will get to the deductions but the cut in tax rates. >> it is revenue neutral. >> chris: it is not unless you take away the did he ductions. >> that is where i am going. >> chris: we will get to that in a second. the first half lowering the tax rates does that cost $5 trillion. >> i won't get into a baseline argument with you because that is what is lot of that is about. limited deductions. start with people at the higher end. here is the way it works. i have been on the ways and means committee for 12 years.

both parties, republicans and the democrats junked up the tax codes with so many give aways. we are saying you keep your money in your pocket book and your business and family in the percent place. the way it works today if you you send your money to washington. we are saying keep it in the first place. every time we have done this whether it was ronald reagan working with tip o'neill. the ideas from the bowles simpson commission on how to do this. a traditional democratic republican consensus lowering tax rates by broadening the tax base works and you can. >> chris: you haven't given me the math. >> i don't have the -- it would take me too long to go through all of the math. let me say this this way. you can lower tax rates by 20% across the board by closing loopholes and still have preferences for the middle class for things like charitable deductions is or home purchases and healthcare. so what we are saying is people are going to get lower tax rates and therefore they will

not send as much money to washington and they will keep it and decide for themselves. when we have done this we created economic growth. >> chris: suppose that the doubters are right and president romney takes office and the math doesn't add up. >> i have run them in congress and they do. >> chris: let's assume it doesn't. the question is what is most important to romney? kale bacscale back in the 20% r the wealthy or scale back and say we have to raise taxes for the middle class? the question is what is most important to him in the tax reform plan? >> keeping tax rates down by lowering tax rates people keep more of the next dollar that they earn. that matters. sin cent ives and progrowth policy and creates 7 million jobs. >> chris: that is more important. >> more important than anything. and it is not what deductions are in the tax code but who gets them and don't forget that the higher income people have a disproportionate amount of the

loopholes that they use. when you close a tax write-off or tax shelter for a higher income person more of their income is subject to taxation so you can lower tax rates. where we go is by denying the deductions and loopholes to higher income people which allows us is to lower tax rates for everybody across-the-board and still provide important tax cuts for taxpayers. >> chris: he said 47% of the country actually 46% don't pay federal income taxes and view themselves as victims. fox news did a poll this week and found that 79% think all americans should pay at least some income taxes. do you think it would be good if every american paid federal income taxes even if it is a dollar, even if it is $2. had some skin in the game. >> we don't think that imposing new taxes on anybody is a good idea. don't forget, chris, the only person running for are president proprosing higher

taxes is president obama. >> chris: because he would end the bush tax cuts for the wealthy. >> he passed all of the obama care taxes and about a dozen hit middle income taxpayers. to go to your question, we or thehink the idea report solution is to impose new taxes on low income people. we want to get people out of poverty and back to the middle class and that is why the economic policies are designed to create jobs and opportunities. the key is get people from not paying income taxes because they have bad incomes to the middle class that have jobs with higher tax home pay so they create taxes. we don't want to tax more people with bad tax policy. we want to grow the middle class and get people back to work with higher take home fay. the secret to this is economic growth, chris. the premise of the conversations and tax reform point is as if the economic pie is fixed and that it is governments if job to

redistribute the slices. is not how the world works. we want to grow the pie and we want economic opportunity. we want people to be able to get a better job and have more income security and higher take home pay and you can do that through economic growth and that is what we are trying to provide and what we can get if we put the progrowth policies in place. >> chris: a number of top republicans say that when romney picked you as his running mate a little over a month ago that they thought that this indicated that you guys were going to run a bold reform agenda campaign and now expressing some frustration that instead of you changing romney you heard this that they feel that romney is changing you and you are running a much more cautious campaign and even your good friend and wisconsin home state governor scott walk has gone on o the radio to complain about this. >> i haven't seen that kind of passion. i know that paul has transferred over to our nominee he and i think a little bit it

as little bit of some pushback from some of the folks in the national campaign. >> chris: walker says he doesn't see passion. he doesn't see reform. he doesn't see fire if the belly. >> scott is a good buddy of mine and always been a good backer of mine. come out to me with mitt and myself to ohio, north carolina, virginia, florida. attend our town hall meetings and look at how we are walking people through how we fix medicare and social security and create jobs and reform the tax code, how we have an energy policy and education policy, a trade policy. mitt romney has put out more specifics on how to revive this economy and get people back to work than the incumbent president of the united states has. i hear the handwringerring in washington and washington wants to talk about process. come out into these states with us and see what we are talking about and the forceful case we are making for economic opportunity. see the specific plans we are putting on the table. the bold solutions. mitt romney has never once asked me to temper anything

down. he said go out there and sell this. >> chris: you talk about the handwringerring. there was a report this weekend that you have been talking to conservative commentators and trying to get them to stay on board and not to jump ship and get too discouraged but in the course of the conversations you admitted the campaign has made missteps. question, what missteps? >> first of all, 47% mitt acknowledges himself. that was an inarticulate way of describing more people have become dependent on government because they have no opportunity. it was an inarticulate way to describe how we are trying to reduce dependency to get people off welfare and back to work. we had some missteps but at the end of the day the choice is cheer and we are giving people a clear choice. progrowth solutions for opportunity and upward mobility and a dynamic economy. you have the president promising basically four more years like the last four years

of stag nation and dependency. we have not been able to frame that choice as clearly. i believe by the end of this day people will understand exactly what they have on the choice that they have. >> chris: do you think the mainstream media is carrying water for barack obama? >> goes without saying there is definitely a media bias. i'm a conservative. we expected media bias going into this. that is why when you hear people in washington complain about media bias come out into the the states with us and attend our town hall mings. >> where are have you seen it where you feel they are judging you and romney by one standard and obama and biden by another. >> i'm not going to get into a tit-for-tat. >> do you you think the mainstream media wants barack obama to win? >> you have to ask the mainstream media that.

>> chris: what do you think? >> i think most mainstream media are heft of center and want a left of center president versus a conservative president like mitt romney. >> so they want obama to win and mitt romney to lose? >> ile let you dehe side what people want. what is in their hearts and their minds. we are often conservative reforms that are proven ideas to work to grow the economy. we want to apply the founding principles and i would argue the president is replacing the founding principles. >> chris: we have been talking about the presidential debate on wednesday but the following week you have the vice presidential debate of joe biden. i know you will play the expectations game and say he is the greater debater since daniel webster. >> chris: want me to. >> want me to start now? >> chris: you are football game. you watch tapes. what are his techniques and threats. >> he is fast on the cuff. a witty guy. he knows who he is. and he he has been doing this

for 40 years. you are not going to rattle joe biden. he has been on the national stage. ran for president twice. the sitting vice president. what i hope to achieve is to give people an alternative and different governing policy and different poll philosophies. joe is good on the attack and and confuses the issues. my job is to make sure that they are not confused about what we stand for and what they stand for. >> chris: ted olson, the guy who won bush v. gore as your stand in. what are the similarities between ted olson and joe biden? >> they are are about the same age and ted olson is one really good debater. i hope joe biden shows more than ted olson because he is one of the best litigators in america. he has studied joe biden's

tapes and records and style and ted as you know is one of the best litigators in america and pretty good at adapting to that. >> chris: have you got lines already prepared? attack lines? >> i'm not the a line guy. you know me well. i don't try to be anybody other than who i am. i believe in what i believe and i do what i do and i really believe in the policies we are. and at the end of the day i'm just going to go in there and be me. >> chris: i know you were hoping that joe biden makes one of his occasional gaffes. >> he doesn't do that in debaits. the gaffes he is kind of ledgentary for this. that is not in these situations. he is a disciplined person when speaks in these kind of situations and doesn't produce gaffes in these moments. those are when is off the cuff out given speech. >> chris: is you are not counting on one of those? >> i'm not counting and a gaffe, no. >> chris: thank you so much for joining us.

>> you bet. appreciate it. >> chris: with that interview we have talked with both men on the republican ticket. if has been a different story with the democrats. we have invited president obama and vice president biden to join us here on "fox news sunday." when we last sat down with mr. obama he said he would be back soon. >> senator obama, thank you so much for talking with us. >> i enjoyed it. >> chris: don't be a strange. i won't. >> chris: but that was april 27, 2008. it has now been 1,617 days since the president's is last appearance. and although senator biden appeared on "fox news sunday" 35 times is, it has been 1,841 days since the vice president last talked with us. in the meantime we and you have had a lot of questions that have gone unanswered. we will invite them again for next sunday. up next with the first presidential debate now just three days away we will ask our sunday group what to look for

wednesday night. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ that should do it. enjoy your new shower.

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, he is trying to fool people in thinking that i think thinks that i don't and that ends i think during the debate. >> we know that governor romney has been practicing for months. i think the invasion of normandy took less preparation than he is putting into the debates. >> chris: that was governor romney and top obama advisor david axl ro axelrod playing te expectations game ahead of the dehe bait. time for our sunday group. bill kristol. list marlantes.

laura ingram and fox news political analyst one williams. you heard him say that romney will offer a clear choice of two different economic futures. is that what romney needs to do wednesday? is that enough? >> i think it will be good to win the debate. that is my main advise to governor romney. panicking a little bit and offering his own way ahead and explaining why the next four years under president obama would be disasterrous. shouldn't focus on the last four years. focus on next four years and what four more years of obama policy would look like and lay out romney alternative. and i think he needs to go right at obama. my main advice would be ignore the moderator. sort of like juan does with you. when one argues with me and ignores all your questions around all that. he has to take do not get -- do

not answer jim lehrer. go after president obama and speak to him in the second person and say you have failed unfortunately and here is what we can do differently and make it a sharp contrast. >> chris: interestingly enough, liz, when i talked to congressman ryan about the fact that romney needs a clear victory because of the state of the polls he pushed back against that. does he need a clear victory? >> he does. i think there is universal consensus that he has to do something to shake up the trajectory of the race and a safe performance probably isn't going to be enough at this point. having said that i think it might not be that hard for romney to get a win in the first debate. challengers get the win. >> chris: just by the fact that they are on the same stage as the president. >> presidents sometimes feel on some level a little irritated that they have to go through this and that times comes across. the think the dynamics will in some ways actually favor romney. all romney has to do i sort of

disagree with bill that he should go after obama hard in the sense that his likability has been such a problem for him if he comes across as too negative i think that could be risky. romney could win the debate with one genuine any good human moment. if he could have one moment where he gives voters the sense that he is throwing the talking points out the window and telling them what he really believes. doesn't even matter what the issue is. if he could connect with voters in some way that would actually probably get him a win. >> chris: laura, how do you see the debate? what do both obama and romney need to be. >> one point on the debate is the end all and be all. there is not universal consensus there has to be a clear resounding victory for romney. romney has to do well, no doubt about it. the debate falls into the media of romney has to perform and if he he doesn't it is an excuse for another round of in my mind disgustingly biased pieces

against mitt romney. i believe bill is exactly right when barack obama was challenged in the univision interview and he was challenged very hard. obama looked uncomfortable when he is really confronted with facts and simply worded questions. i think if mitt romney reminds people we have really 11.7% unemployment and not 8.1% that america's best days ca cannot e behind her, they have to be in front of her. i think having a moment of real leadership and maturity and contrasting that with the president who seems more comfort with ellen or the late night hosts than he is talking to the families of these insider attacks. i think romney has to be mature and forceful. yet the idea that it is all in the debate i think that is a little too convenient for the media. >> chris: juan talk about it but also is because we keep

forgetting about obama. what does obama need to do? >> president obama is leadion in the polls nationally now and leading in the swing states so the question is how do you reaffirm the existing status quo, in a sense the sale has been made. and he is just there not to seeking any short of dramatic moment. he just wants this thing to happen and be history. for mitt romney i think the problem is and i think this came out in your interview, >> gretchen: chris, suddenly you hear the republicans talking about a choice election. bill kristol said look you got to go at obama's record and make it not only about what he has done in the past but what he is likely to do in the future. that is what the prescription will be for the republicans. most people will watch the debate and a lot of people will watch. they think about 50 million people. a huge audience. if those people come together table are going to make up their mind that would be one thing. most of those people have

already made up their minds. i think they are watching for the human moment and that zinger. i think that is what people will take away. >> chris: i want to talk about lawyer you a brought up.as that paul ryan said most of the mainstream media are left of center and would preteresa left of center president. very how clear do you feel media bias has been in the campaign proobama, antiromney. >> pretty clear. conservatives use it an excuse. they have won plenty of elections when the media demonized the tea party more than they have even demonized mitt romney. the mistake is to accept that you have to somehow mute that bias. be likeable. take care of your likability. forget it. it is too late for that. maybe there was a time you

could have done that in the summer. he has to be tough and go right directly at president obama. if the media of a the debate is they both did well and nice to have a respectful debate. both got along,. >> then it is over. >> then it is over. he has to get under president obama's skin and clarify the choice. >> i want to talk about media bias because i saw a couple of cases this week that struck knee. first of all, this is the cover time magazine. mitt romney has been running for president two years and five weeks before the election they decide time that they will do a story on the mormon identity. not about tax reform or the economy. not about foreign policy. the mormon identity and i want to also point out i have been busy on this but struck by it. this is wednesday's washington post and my wife pointed it out to me. a story up here at the top. at u.n. the president issues a

challenge. here is the lead story. ohio florida give obama an edge. here is the side-bar story. for obama the buckeye state maybe a bulls eye. my wife turned to me and said well, i guess the race is over according to the washington post. am i overreacting to this? and more importantly is my wife overreact on this? >> reporting on the poll there's has been discussion about the polling and whether the polling is oversampling democrats. to come extent political reporters report on polls and that drives the narrate ives. the biggest problem mitt romney has in terms of media bias is less an idelogical bias and the attacked that they are covering him as if he is losing. they never covered george w. bush like he was going to lose. >> you look like you are going to come out of your chair. >> the media has been covering this year's events as if the only thing matters is who wins in november.

we actually had a president of the united states for the last year who has spent i bet if you go through his daily schedule i bet it spent about 80% of his time running for reelection. if that were a republican president on a day like we had last week at the u.n. that appeared on a more entertainment focused show but could not meet with our most important ally in the middle east and not with a single member of a family hit by unwith of the insider attacks in washington i believe the media would be going nuts. >> chris: wait, juan? >> clearly the president went to the ceremony for ambassador stevens and met with the families. i think this is republican conspiracy. >> the fbi still isn't in benghazi. >> if you give the media the 47% statement and give the media clint eastwoo eastwood ae offshore accounts people are going to write about them. >> and people know about the

economy and as chris pointed out earlier the confidence in the economy and the president's ability to handle the economy he has been surging. >> because the media has been all over that. >> chris: we are not going to focus on immediate bias any longer. when we come back the terror attack that killed four in libya. growing questions about what the president knew and when knew it. does your phone give you all day battery life ? droid does. and does it launch apps by voice while learning your voice ? launch cab4me. droid does. keep left at the fork. does it do turn-by-turn navigation ? droid does. with verizon, america's largest 4g lte network, and motorola, droid does. get $100 off select motorola 4g lte smartphones like the droid razr.

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the obama administration was involved in a coverup and we are back with the panel. the director of national intelligence issued an extraordinary statement friday afternoon that their initial information was that it was a spontaneous protest but since then got new you information and revised the assaysment and now believe it was a deliberate and organized terrorist attack. does that get the obama white house off the hook in their shifting explanations of what happened in benghazi? >> it shouldn't. it was clear it was a terrorist attack. it was obvious it was a terrorist attack before susan rice came on this show and others saying oh, no, it was a spontaneous attack about a video. it turns out al-qaeda is capable or al-qaeda affiliates are capable of launching terrorist aattackeds on american embassies and in this case quite a sophisticated one.

and attacks on the day after in sudan and tunisia and yemen. we have a war going on and the president doesn't want to discuss that so they tried to pretent this was a spontaneous reaction to a video. >> chris: the timeline set out was that we have this early information and then got information that changed. before susan rice did her famous round of five interviews including "fox news sunday" that first sunday after the attack there was a lot of information or at least allegations including the president of libya and i specifically asked her about that who said this was a preplanned terrorist attack and yet they were insisting. she was insisting no, it was spontaneous. >> it was amazing. i think i was on the panel that week and we were all surprised she didn't leave a little more wiggle room. would have been easy to come out and say we are investigating and don't know much yet. she could have been a lot vaguer. >> chris: how big a problem is

this? >> they created a bigger problem because of the way they handled it. i think it is not that voters suddenly think he is weak on national security. he ha as big cushion in the polls right now but there is two dangers for him. one is the honesty issue which the romney campaign has been hitting hard and trying to come at him in a lot of different directions on that. the idea that maybe they are deliberately dishonest or went with something that they believed to not be true. the other problem for obam -- t that voters will start to think maybe the president is acting more in the interest of his campaign when it comes to national security issues than really what is in the best interests of the country. i think those are the two potential weak spots coming out of all of this. >> chris: as we reported and came out in the course of our interview with paul ryan mitt romney plans on a major foreign

policy speech in the next few days probably after the debate. how vulnerable do you think obama's foreign policy is and how important is it for romney to go after it. >> the mantra osama is dead but. ibutgm lives was powerful. today we see things a little bit differently and see this thing unravel in benghazi. the guess is why did they send susan rice out. why was it necessary for her to go out on five shows and say it is spontaneous. why not say we have an ongoing investigation. why is it that the fbi still can't get into the site. we have troops all oh over and they are able to move and maneuver and do so at their own peril. why are we not in benghazi today? i think president obama is enormously vulnerable on this point. most americans question whether we will be the world's sole

superpower five years from now or maybe three years from now. it is incumbent on mitt romney to do the same thing that netanyahu did at the u.n. with the chart. with the bomb and the 90% red line. he needs to tie that together in a visual way. what is the world going to look like and what are we going to live like if america is not the unquestioned superpower in the world and how is this translating to the lives of every day americans. does it matter? i think most people want america to be the strongest and want competence on the issues. >> chris: juan? >> when you look back at the timeline i think susan rice when she spoke to you chris gave you the best information she had at that time. and what you see now coming from the dni office you later saw coming from general petraeus at cia and leon panetta at defense is that is what american intelligence was indicating at the time. i think susan rice was

forthcoming with you. adifferent information has come in and therefore the story has changed. in the current political environment it is made out to be this is distortion or as laura said they are vulnerable on this. if you look at the polls, the american people are saying what is going on over in the middle east and now more and more americans saying we are not sure about how president obama's approach to the muslim world has worked and i think the romney campaign therefore things we can gain traction on this issue. >> there is a record, right? there is a record in iraq. >> and the issues in the campaign. >> chris: i want to move to one last question. we have a couple of minutes left. benjamin netanyahu's speech to the u.n. if nothing else will be remembered for his looks like a cartoon bomb drawing the red line. some experts read the speech as actually softening the approach to obama. he said he appreciates the

obama administration stance towards iron and seemed to be putting off any possible attack against iran into next spring or summer. is that the way you read his speech? >> he is responsible and is not going to go and insult the president of the united states. i thought it was a classic example of how the media gets things wrong. the medi media merittive. it was on the prompt page and around the world. and everybody wanted to talk vaguely about red lines and he explained why you cannot allow them to get downa certain point and you got to stop them before they can just flip the switch and go to a nuclear weapon. i thought it was a very effective speech and mitt romney should give a an importt foreign policy speech. there is too much focus on the media and coverup and who said what when. talk about the reality of the effect of obama's foreign policy. >> and talk about the fact that

netanyahu thanked president obama for his speech saying you know what there is a limit to our patience but the president said we do believe there is time for negotiation and even netanyahu said he doesn't think anything is going to happen until next summer at the earliest. >> chris: part of that may also be he got blowback for appearing to go to antiobama in manageing that relationship. check out panel plus where our group picks up with the discussion on our website "fox news sunday" .com and we will post the video before noon eastern time. follow us on twitter @ "fox news sunday." up next, our power player of the week. forz(power!) andiamo! andiamo! (let's go! let's go!) avanti! avanti! (keep going! keep going!) hahaha...hahahaha!

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he is one of our most

celebrated historians who has spent decades telling the story of an american president and yet he writes his books in long hand on legal pads to force himself to go slower and think more. here is a special power player of the week. >> you want to know how political power works in america in the last half of the 20th century study lyndon johnson's life. it is a way to see what a president can really do. >> chris: robert carol spent almost half his life telling the story of lbj. he says he is a not a biographer. he is a student of power, how you get it and what you do with it and johnson he says was a genius at both. >> chris: how long did you think it was going to take you? >> i thought about ten years. >> chris: and now we are, what, 36 years into this? >> something like that. >> chris: the breadth and depth of the work is stunning. since 1976, caro has written

four books, 3400 pages, winning almost every award there is starting with the pulitzer and not yet to johnson and vietnam. why has it taken so long? when caro looked at how johnson was first elec elected so the e in 1948 by 40 votes he wrote a book about it. >> nobody has ever looked and said this is what a stolen election it. >> chris: and the late evangelicals tells how johnson succeeded john kennedy and saved his agenda. >> he takes legislation that wasn't going to pass civil rights, the tax cut bill and in an in tant johnson gets it moving towards passage. >> thank you very, very, very much. >> chris: last week, caro took part in the library of congress book festival on the national mall and made clear he made johnson come alive for many

reader. >> chris: do you like him? >> i don't like him or dislike him. you are in awe of him because you are constantly saying look at what he is doing now. >> chris: he got excited talking about johnson's rise to power but as we turn to the final book he is writing now, his demeanor suddenly changed. >> the story is going to turn very dark as soon as vietnam enters the picture. it is sort of a tragic story. a story of his great dreams that are the destroyed by a war. >> chris: you are 76 now. do you ever worry that you are not going to have time to finish this last book? >> well, sure. but, you know, it is not productive to think like that. >> chris: how long do you think it will take you to finish? >> i could say three or four years but why would you believe me? >> chris: after all, ca latest book took nine years.

there is one final chapter of the johnson story that is already written. >> chris: is it true that you already know the last sentence of the book? >> i always have to it have a last sentence to write towards. i have to know what the con >> chris: can you tell us what -- >> no. >> chris: is it a doozy of the last sentence? >> i hope so. >> chris: he also has plans to write another book on a different subject after that. as big fan of his work, i can't wait to read it. and we'll have a

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get $100 off select motorola 4g lte smartphones like the droid razr. ♪ [ sighs ] [ bird chirps ] [ bird squawks ] ♪ [ bird screeching ] ♪ [ elevator bell dings ] [ sighs ] how mad is she? she kicked me out. but took the best stuff. i'll get the wrench. ♪ [ male announcer ] kohler's tresham collection. life. with a twist. ♪ >>. >> chris: finally this program note. stay tuned to this station and fox news channel for >> stay tuned to this station and fox news channel of the first complete presidential debate wednesday night at 9 p.m. eastern, that's it for today. have a great week you